The head of MI6 has said a “staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage” has been uncovered in Europe.
Speaking at the British embassy in Paris, Sir Richard Moore said Russia was trying to “sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine and challenge Western resolve in so doing”.
It comes after a DHL plane crash in Lithuania on Monday which officials suspect was a “hybrid” attack – meaning aggressive actions short of actual war, such as sabotage.
The plane was flying from Leipzig to Lithuania when it crashed in Vilnius, killing one crew member and leaving three others injured.
Earlier this year, incendiary devices caused fires at DHL facilities in Leipzig, Germany, and in Birmingham. Russia is suspected of being behind the incidents.
Suspicions were also raised about a massive fire that destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre in May. It is “likely” that Russia was involved, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said at the time.
Germany blamed sabotage for the severing of two undersea internet cables last week.